Diamond Treasure
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: DDR AU - When Hitsugaya Toshiro unitentionally drags Karin into the mess, how is his former taicho, Kurosaki Isshin as he is now known, going to react to what is going on?
1. Involving Karin

_Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach._

_**Diamond Treasure  
~Involving Karin~**_

The presence of certain things always had an effect on the tomboy of the Kurosaki twins. Yuzu was always wishing to be able to see ghosts, but truth of the matter, the young girl had no clue how much of a pain, the whole thing was. For example, for some odd reason, Karin hadn't been able to sleep well for some time now. She had finally fallen asleep nicely tonight, only to find her dreams plagued by another person's memories.

She had to admit though, unlike the other times, a warm feeling of familiarity came from the person whose memories she saw. She walked with the person, without them realizing that she was looking through their eyes, through some sort of school. The students were dressed in a rather old fashioned uniform, the boys trimmed in blue, the girls trimmed in red.

It didn't last though, as the dreams and memories turned dark, moody, almost as if the person whose memories she was receiving, happened to be brooding over something. She could feel the person's heart break. She also saw, in that cold cavern, the friend that had been walking side by side by the person, suddenly have their face slashed, and then be killed off.

At this, Karin sat up with a yelp and pulled her knees to her chest with her head burried. She let out an exasperated sound. The pain seemed so familiar to her. "I really can't argue that if I don't believe, they aren't real anymore."

She lifted her head, and pounted her fists on her head, trying to think of why it felt so familiar to her, the person whose dreams she had shared, though hazy in some asspects. However, something clicked, as realization hit her, of just who she received the memories from. Emotions welled in her chest, as they hit her hard. "Toshiro... those where Toshiro's memories."

This caused Karin to blink in surprise, as the boy had retained a countanance of emotionlessness, when she had met him. She couldn't understand how then, memories from the day the two met at the soccer filed, were left over, and coming out now. However, this thought process changed, when she felt an icy blast of rietstu coming from her brother's room. "What the hell is going on?"

Suddenly, her body sprung into action, and her feet swung over the edge of the bed. She then tiptoed to the door, to find her older brother Ichigo, passing through the hallways, his face twisted in iritation. "That little snot. All I wanted to do was help him! I thought he concidered me his friend!"

"Ichi-nii?" Karin watched as her brother continued to wear the carpet thin. "Ichi-nii!"

Her brother suddenly turned to her, the look on his face turning to one of complete shock. "Karin... you couldn't sleep?"

"Sort of," Karin glanced at the ground, knowing that he likely wouldn't tell her what all was going on. She felt though, she might as well try. "What's going on?"

"Nothing..." he obviously lied. "I'm sorry I woke you. Go back to bed." Karin watched as, instead of heading back to his room, he instead headed down stairs. The small female couldn't help but roll her eyes, at the fact that her brother constantly tried to protect her from the truth she already knew. She knew he was lying, and made up her mind, to find out the truth.

Carefully, she walked onver to the door, and cracked it open. As soon as she did, she saw and recognized the small figure curled up on her brother's bed, covered with the blanket. "Toshiro?" No awnser came from him, which lef for her to creep into the room. She tip toed over, and knudged the white haired boy on the shoulder. "Toshiro, don't make me hit you..."

"Please don't get involved, Kurosaki-san," the boy mummered, his voice filled with exaution. An electric shock suddenly ran through his body, as she plopped donw, so that she was sitting right up against his back. This caused him to his out, opening his eyes, and turning his head to face her a bit. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

"I couldn't sleep," Karin stated firmly. "Plus, I've got questions to ask you, all right?"

"No... it isn't all right. I asked you not to get involved," the boy mummered, frustration all over his voice. Again, he refused to look her in the face.

"Come on Toshiro... you've been the only one so far to awnser my questions. I also get the idea there are certain questions you can't awnser, and I'll accept that. Here's question one."

"No... questions.." the young taicho growled through gritted teeth. Yet, unbeknown to Karin, he wasn't that anymore, and he didn't want her to know the truth. He tried fluctuating his reitsu, as a wanring. However, this didn't seem to phaze her, almost as if she actually enjoyed the icy touch.

"What was that school with those red and blue robes?" came her curious question.

Toshiro's face twisted up from confusion at this. "I thought you said you never asked anyone else, Kusoaki..."

"It's Karin... Ka...rin," the girl protested. "Question two, that guy galled you a genius. Is that why you hate being refered to as a kid?"

"Hey... hold it... how." Toshiro tried turning onto his side, but found his own line of questioning interupted, with another from the preteen girl.

And because of your friend dying, is that why you push Ichi-nii and me away..." Two teal eyes went wide at this comment from the girl. Toshiro thought about sitting up, but that meant looking Karin in the eyes, which would reveal how emotionally vulnerable he was right now.

"Soul Reaper academy... yes... partially... yes... parially again," Toshiro closed his eyes, his body relazing a bit. "My turn. How did you know about that. Your brother's heard Kusaka, but he doesn't know... he doesn't know about the other stuff, because I've never told anyone, and very few people know. Actually, I think I'm the only one left alive who does, other then Yamamoto."

He suddenly felt the girl tense up next to him. "You have to promise not to tell _anyone_. Ichi-nii is the only one who knows."

"I promise to keep that promise, unless I find a reason that I deem it necisary," came the typical response one might epect of him. This caused Karin to let out a huff of air.

"Some how, I saw your memories... it's happened before, to someone else. I was close to age wise. I saw the memories of that person."

"Do..." Toshiro haad a bit of shock in his voice. "do you do this on purpose... or do you have no control over it?"

"You shound like you think I'm a freak all of a sudden," Karin muttered. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"No... I'm sorry. I know what it's like though, to not be able to control... certain things. However, there are just... some memories that are more private then others. Most of mine... aren't good ones either. They aren't nice," the boy blurted out, almost making the mistake of turning to look her in the eyes, however, he caught himself doing this.

"They seemed rather nice Toshiro. Espessully compared to last time," Karin stated. "No... I can't control it, and sometimes I still have nightmares about it."

"I don't... didn't..." the boy muttered. "I don't want you having nightmares because of one of my stupid bad memories," came the huffy reply.

"Just get some sleep Toshiro, and don't worry about it." Karin suddenly lay down, so that her back was right up against the small taicho's.

"Wait... baka... can't you go sleep in your own bed?" Toshiro felt his face flush, as he was uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a bed with a girl, and could imagine the no end of teasing, he would receive from Matsumoto... though his face saddened, realizing that might never happen again. He let out a deep breath. "Kurosaki-san? Kurosaki? Karin?"

However, a small snore reached his ears, and he knew that he was stuck with her for the rest of the night, as he himself lacked the energy needed to move. He hoped he would be up, before she woke up, for multiple reasons, one of which dealt with the fact that Kurosaki Ichigo was over protective, when he wanted to protect somethin.

**M**

The nagging parental instinct of his woke Isshin form his sleep. This caused him to get up out of bed, to lurk aroind, something that tended to drive his kids nuts, when they did know. It was late at night, so the chances of them finding out, were slim. There was a very distinct, familiar feeling that was bothering him, that insesent nagging feeling one of his kids was hurt.

His first stop was downstairs, to make sure that none of the kids... well, not really Yuzu... were getting a midnight snak . That would be if the case were correct, ample time to sneak up on the other two children. His mind though, doubted that this was the case, and he bit his lips as he snuck down the stairs, and peiced around the corner.

However, when he got down there, he simply found the telivision on, and went over to turn it off. Ichigo was fast asleep on the counc, snoring blissfully away, the controler on the ground. Isshin proceeded to cover his son with a blanket that had been folded and on the end of the counch. The nagging feeling was still there.

He then went up to check on his two girls, but when he cracked open the door, he only found one of his two girls. Yuzu was in her bed. Thoughts of Karin sneaking out at night, rushed through heis mind, but he managed to push them back. That nagging feeling remained there, and rather emblasened on his mind, and as a parent, it wasn't something he could ignore.

He peeked int Ichigo's room, and let out a sigh of relief, to find Karin there, but couldn't figure out why that bad feeling wasn't going away. He now knew where every single one of his children were, and he could see from just looking at them, that they were safe and sound. He turned to leave, but paused, remembering his former fukutaicho. He blinked a couple of times, remembering that child was also his, though not by blood.

Something clicked in his head, and he crept back towards the bed, the person that he hadn't seen, as they had been blocked from view by Karin, suddenly coming into view. His suspicions were confirmed, as to which of his little ones, he had been worried about. He shook his head, a smile spreading on his face, at how child like the two were.

However, he instinctivly reached a hand down, to touch the small taicho's forehead. He found it to be a tad warm. The small boy moved in his sleep, causing Isshin to pull back his hand. When Toshiro didn't wake, his hand reached down, scanning the small boy for injuries. It came across one small wound, and Kurosaki senior, found his hand jerking away. "It can't be at all possible..."

He then closed his eyes, and went to go stand outside the door, worry creasing his brow.


	2. Disapearing Act

**Diamond Treasure  
Disappearing_ Act_**

Young Hitsugaya woke up extremely early like he usually did, which considering that he wanted to get away as soon as possible was a good thing in his mind. However, what wasn't a good thing was that his side still throbbed from the sword wound and his back was stiff and soar for some reason. After a few seconds, he realized it was because someone was in fact sleeping on the other side of him.

His mind first focused on the idea that Ichigo had likely chosen to sneak back into the room to make sure the small shinigami wouldn't try and leave without getting healed and explaining things. At that, Toshiro pushed himself up onto one of his elbows. "Kurosaki..."

However, the irritation left as he soon realized he'd gotten the wrong Kurosaki when it came to who decided to sneak in with him the night before. His face suddenly flushed realizing he had spent the night in close proximity to a girl who wasn't Hinamori, Matsumoto or his granny. "Kurosaki-san?"

When she didn't move, he let out a sigh of relief that she was still asleep. He carefully and painfully maneuvered his body so that he wouldn't wake her up. The entire situation, if Matsumoto Rangiku could have see in was a complex embarrassment. Hell, even now this was embarrassing for some reason he honestly couldn't figure out. He wasn't the one who had decided to do this.

He then carefully pulled the blanket and Hyorinmaru away. After retying his sheath, he carefully began to fold the blanket. As he did this, a voice piped ip from the bed. "I am not a heavy sleeper like my brother Toshiro."

"Why don't you go get dressed out of your knight clothes, Kur... Karin." Toshiro paused, deciding to use her first name in an attempt to catch her off guard and to get her to leave the room so he could leave. As he did this, eh removed his haori and folded it on top of the blanket.

"So you can just leave without even saying goodbye? You purposely broke habit there." Karin stated firmly. "If you think I am going to let you do that, think again."

"It isn't as if..." He meant to object to the idea that he was sneaking away, but something else came to bother him. "I don't want to say goodbye..."

"Come on Toshiro! Saying goodbye, it mean's we have a chance to meet again," the raven haired girl laughed.

"Meet again?" At that, his face faltered, his eyes going wide and showing a great deal of sadness in them. He turned to her and opened his mouth. "Look, the chances that we will be able to see each other again are next to nil, even if I survive, which at this point I doubt myself as likely to happen."

"Baka..." Karin stated, folding her arms across her chest, her face twisting up in irritation. "Isn't that an even bigger reason to say goodbye to someone."

At this, the small shinigami's eyes suddenly widened, then narrowed. With a swift movement, he grabbed the cloak he had used before Ichigo had found him and then quickly moved to the window and then disappeared from view. This of course caused Karin's eyebrow to twitch and she darted out of the room and headed downstairs.

"Karin?" Isshin poked his head out of his door, his eyes blurry.

"Not now goat-bear! I'm in a hurry!"

"Karin, you're in your nightclothes." However, the girl was all ready down stairs, slipping on her shoes and grabbing her small coin purse that she kept on a table by the door. As she got outside, she let out a sigh of relief to see Toshiro still standing there, bowing towards the house.

"Are you an old codger, Toshiro?" the darker haired Kurosaki twin stated, causing Toshiro to give her a startled look. "Let me at least use my allowance to get you something from the vending machine.

"I could easily refuse your generosity, Kurosaki." the small shinigami muttered, his voice indicating some sort of hurt.

"It might hurt your pride to accept generosity from someone, but I also thinks it would hurt your pride not to. Plus... I'm not strong like you or Ichi-nii. While he can help you in that regard, this really is the only way that I can. I'll feel bad if I don't do something... especially if I happen to find out..." Karin couldn't finish what she had been trying to say.

Toshiro glanced away, knowing exactly what she had been trying to say and spoke up with frustration in his voice. "Fine... I guess it wouldn't hurt."

**M**

Isshin was himself frantic. This was due to the fact, that as soon as he peered through Ichigo's room, he knew that two of his young ones were in danger. Due to certain issues, eh couldn't simply go out and deal with the problem at hand head on, especially when he personally lacked details with what was going on. Hus the best tactic was, at this point, to go and wake up his son, who was asleep on the couch.

"Hey... Ichi... Your sister's gone. Daddy's worried." Isshin muttered.

"Ehh... Karin probably went and is now playing soccer with her friends... or if it's Yuzu... she

s grocery shopping, or getting candy." Ichigo stated, sitting up from the couch and yawning. He then went upstairs, paying the old man no mind to let Toshiro know he would be calling Orihime. However... "That little snot!"

Isshin hurried up into the room, just in time for him to see Ichigo fleeing out the window while Kon sat on the bed. "Ne... What's happening?"

"Kon... I wish I knew. I think Karin just took of with Toshiro..."

"Ehh... they're going to elope?" the mod soul spoke up.

At that, Isshin's face turned read with anger. "If you seriously weren't in my son's body, you would have a major butt whooping coming to you!"

"Well... pardon me... they are of similar ages." Kon sighed.

"And just hitting puberty for that matter. Goodness knows, what I care about isn't that they might be eloping of all things."

"Aren't you usually rather reserved towards protecting your daughters innocence?"

"I... you are a major idiot, aren't you. Anyways, I know that isn't what is going on. I mean, Toshiro was heavily injured last night. Something is wrong." Isshin's face twisted up. "So have other things to worry about."

"I'd completely forgotten about that." Kon scratched Ichigo's head.

"You would.." Isshin muttered. "Both of my little ones are in danger."

"Ichigo will be fine. He always is. He also is really good at protecting his little sisters." Kon smiled.

"You are really good at missing what people are trying to say to you." The man snapped his words out.

"So's Ichigo." The mod soul quickly retorted. "I know, I have the heart of a lion, so I'll sniff Karin out, since I'm supposed to be acting like a big brother when he isn't around."

"You mean, go out on all four legs and sniff the ground?" Isshin's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah!" Kon stated.

"In my son's body?"

"I love embarrassing him!"

"Do you really think I would let you?" Isshin shook his head.

"Huh... weren't you worried about Ichigo and Karin?"

"You really don't get it..."

**M**

The small taicho had followed Karin to where the vending machines were and turned his head to see the sun starting to rise on the horizon. Karin apparently had noticed his behavior. "You really like sunrises and sunsets. Maybe this one will bring you good luck?"

"_I should really leave, before someone comes and she gets hurt._" Toshiro thought to himself, distracted from what she had said to him."

"_Before you say goodbye to her?_" The ice dragon's voice was faint, though still running in the back of his head. Trepidation or the fact that more then one person was using Hyorinmaru led to this phenomenon, or so the small taicho thought.

"_That is the idea. That way she doesn't notice and she won't begin to worry._" The small boy stated, slinking away as the small female pushed buttons on the machine and then reached for the drinks.

Karin, upon not receiving a response from Toshiro, glanced up to find him gone "That jerk. What does he think he's trying to do, act all macho like this?" She held in her arms a few sodas and packages of food. Her mouth twisted in major disappointment. However, this didn't last long, as she felt the rietsu of two people clashing.

At first, she blinked her eyes upon feeling the reiatsu, her head hurting slightly. She realized quickly though, that the reiatsu belonged to Toshiro and her brother, as if they were in fact clashing. She cursed the two of them under her breath, wondering what was in fact going on. "Guys are idiots! You're _friends_ for crying out loud!"

The fighting got closer and she ducked to the side of one of the machines, not wanting her brother to notice her, lest he yell at her to get going, or something about the situation being dangerous. It was then that she saw the two females come out of the sky and she froze, taking in the site off the two females attacking Toshiro and her brother.

She felt her throat freeze as she saw Ichigo hit by an attack, his blood dripping to the ground. Somehow, he was able to drive them away, but the attack to his head caused him to teeter to the ground as Toshiro's attention was drawn by those two females suddenly and he moved to go after them. His eyes had an odd look to them.

Her brother then tried to get Toshiro's attention as he collapsed, calling out the young shinigami's name. While the shinigami was distracted, she quickly moved and wrapped her arms around his neck, dropping the vending machine food to the ground. "Toshiro! What are you doing!"

"Let go!" The young males body tensed up under neither her and she suddenly jumped up, swinging her legs up and around his waist so that he couldn't take off on her, which is what his body language said he would. She heard a sharp sound escape his lips and suddenly, they were both moving away, almost as if Toshiro panicked about her actions.

**M**

Ichigo found his mind to be furious with Hitsugaya Toshiro. He simply wanted to help, but then he saw a great deal of pain in the youths eyes. The two girls attacked, giving him a good whack to his head. The first thing he saw as he began to collapse was the fact that Toshiro was making to take off on him, as if he were running.

However, his brown eyes suddenly caught sight of his young sister Karin standing by the vending machine. She had hidden herself there, in a position that he couldn't see her until now. What his father was speaking of hit him hard as she dropped the items she had obviously bought to the ground and lunged at the small shinigami.

"Toshiro! What are you doing!"

"Let go!" Ichigo felt himself blacking out as Toshiro said this, knowing full well how the young shinigami reacted to certain things. To his dismay, Karin only held on tighter, and they were both gone, and then gone were his senses.

_Author's note – I could have recounted the fight with the two girls, but that wouldn't have been, unless I had something to add to it, my own work. So, that got cut out. It wasn't needed, because if you're reading this, you should know the DDR movie. Only small bits are there. And yes... this means I finally found my notebook that the second chapter was in. Glad too, because a complete rewrite would not have been as good as this one_


	3. Injured Heart

**Diamond Treasure  
_Injured Heart_**

Hitsugaya Toshiro's mind was spinning as he and Ichigo fought the two female Arrancar. His mind reeled at the idea that someone was getting hurt because of him. That was why he needed to take care of this mess himself. This was no matter how much Kurosaki pressured him into letting him help, he simply couldn't allow it.

He watched as Ichigo began to collapse to the ground and he knew this was the best time to leave the young man so that he wouldn't get further involved. A fear reigned in his heart and he wanted the pain to go away, the pain he didn't understand. While he concentrated on these thoughts, he didn't realize that someone he had forgotten about was moving behind him.

"Toshiro!" Suddenly, two small arms wrapped around his neck, Karin's breath falling next to his right ear. "What are you doing!"

At that, he felt his body tense up, the sudden feeling of being touched like that a shock to him. Practically no one touched him like this except for his grandmother and sometimes Matsumoto. He could feel the color leave his face too and he snapped out the words. "Let go!"

However, instead of letting go, Karin hung on tighter, jumping up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist, almost as if she were trying to stop him from escaping. This caused the wound on his side to open up again and for him to let out a sharp yelp of pain. Panic also filled his mind and his mind reveled, not being able to think straight.

At that, he shunpooed away, Karin still hanging onto him, tightly. As he landed, he stumbled backwards a few steps, not being used to this kind of weight on his back. He then shunpooed again, having nearly the same experience when he landed again, but the next few times his steps were their normal rhythm, despite the fact that his mind was in complete panic.

Finally, he stepped into an alleyway, his breath coming to him hard and ragged. He felt Karin slip off his back, her hands still around his shoulders. "Toshiro?"

"Why?" His words came out, as his face twisted up in frustration. "Why did you have to do that?"

"I'm not going to let you push me away because one of your friends died on you." The dark haired twin snapped out. "Seriously, were you _honestly _thinking of leaving my brother there, injured without helping him? I thought better of you Toshiro."

"It was either that, or have him follow me and get hurt even worse." The small shinigami blurted out, suddenly grasping his knees in frustration.

"You are afraid of the people around you getting hurt, aren't you?" Karin stated, watching as the boy slid to the ground.

"I am not afraid! I am not afraid of anything!" Hitsugaya's words snapped out again.

"That is a complete lie, and we both know it." The girl stated, one of her shoes scuffing the ground, causing him to look up.

When he did, he saw blood on her leg, and his eyes became wide. "Did you... did you get hurt too?"

At that, Karin glanced down to where his eyes were looking, to the spot on her inner thigh. "No. I'm not hurt Toshiro." Her mouth suddenly hung open, realization hitting her. "Toshiro... I forgot you were hurt. The blood's yours." At that, she bent down onto her knees and pulled back the cloak, in time to see the blood seeping through the bandages.

"I'm fine..." The boy glanced away, his teal eyes showing a great deal of pain.

"No, you're not." Karin placed a hand on his chest. "Leave it to Ichi-ni to wrap the bandages on the outside, rather then the inside."

"I'll be fine." Toshiro repeated the words.

"Again, I'll say you aren't. There is a convenience store near here. I'll go get some first aide supplies." The female paused for a few seconds. "However, I can't trust you not to take off on me."

"I promise that I'll stay." The boy let out a deep breath, folding his arms across his chest.

"And then you'll break your promise and take off on me like you did before." Karin stated firmly.

"I didn't make a promise the time before." The boy's body tensed up, his head darting downwards.

The preteen female looked at the boy for a few minutes, then nodded her head. "I'll trust you to keep your promise. If you don't... well, I trust that breaking said promise will eat away at you."

**M**

His mind was black, his head throbbing from the attack. He could hear someones voice calling for him, telling him to wake up. He felt like a complete idiot for falling for what he had, for not realizing the situation that Karin had gotten herself into. Ichigo suddenly felt a fist launched into his face and he startled awake."

"Ichigo?" Rukia peered into his face.

"What the hell is going on?" the substitute shinigami stated, holding a hand to his face. "And why did Renji punch me in the face?"

"Hitsugaya Toshiro has been labeled a traitor by soul society. We either have to bring him in for questioning, or kill him on site." Abarai's eyes were narrowed as he reached a hand down to help Kurosaki up from the ground.

"That little brat. What exactly did he do to warrant this?" Ichigo muttered, irritation spreading over his face.

"A very important object was stolen that he was supposed to be guarding," Rukia sighed. "He simply took off right after the object belonging to the royal family was stolen."

"That doesn't mean he's guilty though." The substitute shinigami folded his arms across his chest, frustration written on his face.

"We don't like this any more then you do." The fukutaicho of the sixth division glanced at the ground. "We have enough problems as it is without him going and pulling a stunt like this."

"It isn't as simple as that. Karin is with him." Ichigo piped up, worry spreading across his face.

"Your little sister?" Rukia's eyes blinked a couple of times surprise and worry evident on her face.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that Hitsugaya Taicho kidnapped your younger sister?" Renji snorted out of his nose. "If it weren't for the current situation, I would find this rather funny."

"I don't see how it is funny at all," Kurosaki retorted, his eyes narrowing with distaste.

"Hitsugaya Taicho never acts his age, so him suddenly taking an interest in a girl..." At that point, Abarai found himself interrupted with a good solid kick to the face by Rukia.

"Now is not the time." The Kuchiki noble folded her own arms. "Why would he take her?"

"Well... he didn't exactly kidnap her..." Ichigo reached up and scratched his head at this. "I am still going to seriously hurt him when I find him for putting her into danger like this."

"Wait, are you trying to tell me that she went willingly with him?" Renji shook his head. "You know that makes her his accomplice, right?'

"Wait!" Ichigo held up a hand. "She didn't go willingly with him either. She jumped him trying to stop him from getting away."

"Ichigo... I am not sure if I can trust your memory on this as you have a head injury." Rukia sighed.

"Yeah, how can some girl from the living world jump a captain of all people. You insist that she isn't an accomplice?" Renji stated firmly, to which Ichigo nodded his head.

**M**

Karin walked into the convenience store and picked up some bandages, a small sewing kit and some disinfectant, along with some food. She opened her coin purse and set the change on the counter. The man raised an eyebrow but choose not to say anything. Having only a few coins left, she walked around the corner to behind the wall.

Upon turning the corner, she saw Toshiro leaning up against the wall, panting slightly as he leaned up against his zampaktuo. She walked over to the young taicho and knelt down. "Toshiro?"

At that, he glanced up, his face pale. "I made a promise, did I not?"

Karin simply ignored him and pulled the cloak lose from his shoulders and then began to unwrap the bandages around his waist. "You did keep your promise."

Her hands then went up to pull on the shoulder of his uniform, which caused him to blink a couple of times, then to reach up and grab her hand. "Can't you just wrap it around like your brother did?"

"Are you a _baka _like Ichi-nii? That works when you need something quick and easy." The female sighed. She then caught the expression of exasperation plastered on Toshiro's face. "Look, I know I can get this over quickly, but truth of the matter is, you run the chance of your injury opening up again."

As she pulled the uniform down, Toshiro felt his cheeks heating up, his mind not at all comfortable with the idea of her bandaging him up and for some reason his mind also went to the fact that Karin seemed to not be phased at all with what was going on. She reached out her fingers to touch the injury, causing him to flinch.

It was then that the preteen female's expression changed. She didn't seem bothered by applying first aide to her shinigami friend, but more concerned with what she saw. "The injury... how come I can feel the same kind of aura that comes from your sword? Yet... it is different for some reason."

"That's because it was made with the same sword, so to speak." Toshiro closed his eyes.

Karin went and dumped a little bit of the substance for disinfecting injuries onto the thread and needle. "This is going to hurt."

At that, two eyes snapped open and blinked a couple. "What do you mean?"

However, he quickly felt her press the wound together and then stitch it back together. He made the mistake of casting his teal orbs onto the area she was working with, and he suddenly felt green at what he saw. This reminded him too much of the vaccines Unohana tried giving him and he paled, letting out a yelp of pain as he did so.

At that, he closed his eyes shut, until he felt Karin wrapping the bandages around his waist. His face remained colorless except for his flushed cheeks. She placed a hand on his chest when she finished and let out a sigh of relief. "There. It is done. Not the best I would like to have done, but it will have to do."

She then glanced up at the boy. "Toshiro, what is the matter?"

"Needles..." the boy muttered, his face turning a shade of green.

"Oh... I'm sorry about that." Karin stated, pulling his uniform back on, not noticing the young male's cheeks flushing slightly.

"Can I go now?" Hitsugaya let out a deep sigh, only to hear a rustling of a bag, and suddenly found a roll of bread shoved into his face.

"I promised to treat you, to make sure you had something in your stomach to give you the stamina you need for this journey you're going on. I'll help you in the way I know how." The female gave him a rather large smile and Toshiro reluctantly took the food from her. He bit down, suddenly realizing how hungry he really was.

_Author's note – I think I promised eight chapters, but that was when I had my chapter list still, which is still misplaced._


End file.
